BARENTS SEA

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Context

• Geologists have discovered a never-before-seen volcano at the bottom of the Barents Sea off the coast of Norway.

Details

• The volcano has been named The Borealis Mud Volcano.
• The Volcano is erupting with mud, fluids, and gas from the planet's interior.
• It is located in the Southwestern Barents Sea at the outer part of Bjornoyrenna (Outer Bear Island Trough).
• The volcano is situated inside a crater that is nearly 300 meters wide and 25 meters deep.
• Geologists suspect that the crater was the result of a massive event that abruptly released massive methane just after the last glaciation period, 18,000 years ago.
• The volcano has been seen to be erupting with fluids rich in methane, which is a greenhouse gas responsible for the rising temperature of the planet due to global warming.
• The seabed where the volcano has been discovered has active marine life, which is thriving on the steep flanks of carbonate crusts formed several thousands of years ago. Observations revealed sea anemones, sponges, carnivorous sponges, sea stars, corals, sea spiders, and crustaceans living on the seabed.

Significance

• These venting volcanoes are direct windows into the Earth's interior since they erupt predominantly water and fine sediments from depths of several hundred meters to a few kilometers, providing a window into past environments.
• Understanding the evolution and the fluids' composition helps us comprehend their potential impact on the global methane budget and can inform about what happens on other planets.

Barents Sea

About and Location

• The Barents Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia.

Division

• It is divided between Norwegian and Russian territorial waters.

Borders

• It is bordered by the Kola Peninsula to the south, the shelf edge towards the Norwegian Sea to the west, the archipelagos of Svalbard to the northwest, Franz Josef Land to the northeast and Novaya Zemlya to the east.

Separation from Kara Sea

• The islands of Novaya Zemlya, an extension of the northern end of the Ural Mountains, separate the Barents Sea from the Kara Sea.

Port

• The southern half of the Barents Sea, including the ports of Murmansk (Russia) and Vardø (Norway) remain ice-free year round due to the warm North Atlantic drift.

Ecology

• Due to the North Atlantic drift, the Barents Sea has a high biological production compared to other oceans of similar latitude.
• The spring bloom of phytoplankton can start quite early near the ice edge.
• The fisheries of the Barents Sea, in particular the cod fisheries, are of great importance for both Norway and Russia.

https://www.indiatoday.in/science/story/underwater-volcano-erupting-with-mud-fluids-discovered-in-barents-sea-2386524-2023-05-30